Stock transactions via mobile devices increased sharply this year as more retail traders opted to use their smartphones, data showed on Thursday.

Stock trading via mobile gadgets made up 14.64 percent of the total trades made on the country's main bourse in the January-November period, compared with the 8.53 percent tallied for last year, according to the country's bourse operator Korea Exchange.

The mobile stock trading has posted noticeable yearly growth in recent years, with its share rising to 3.47 percent in 2010 after reaching some 2 percent between 2004 and 2008.The value of mobile device-based trading reached some 148 trillion won ($137 billion) during the cited period, according to the operator.

A rise in the use of the mobile trading system mainly came as the number of smartphone users has been on the sustained rise in South Korea, experts say.

The number of smartphone users reached roughly 30 million, making up around 60 percent of the total population.

Meanwhile, stock transactions via the home trading system (HTS) grew at a slower pace than mobile device-based trading, data showed.

The weight of HTS-based stock trading reached 67.93 percent out of all transactions in the cited period, rising from the 66.35 percent tallied for last year.

The value of such trading amounted to 743.9 trillion won out of the total trading volume in the first 11 months of this year, sharply lower than 1,407 trillion won for 2011, data showed. (Yonhap)